Sandra Naughton

snaughton
Sandra Naughton
Deputy Director,
First 5 Contra Costa

Sandra Naughton is deputy director of First 5 Contra Costa, where she leads policy, strategy, and program evaluation efforts to improve outcomes for young children and families. She previously served as director of policy, strategy, and evaluation at First 5 Contra Costa and has held leadership roles in early childhood and education policy in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was manager of budget and impact for the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education and city lead for the Our Children, Our Families Council under the Office of Mayor Lee. Earlier, she was manager of education policy and a senior planner at the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF). She also served as co-director of education at Children Now. She was formerly a research assistant at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities in the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a policy analyst for Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) in the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Naughton earned her  MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
Publications by Sandra Naughton
The Influence of State Policy and Community
Findings show that charter schools in the US perform similarly or worse than public schools due to disparities in resources. State regulation leads to fewer uncredentialed teachers, and more state spending equals more equal teacher salaries. Local…